The objective of this study is to show ‘how an individual Filipino's need for happiness is met through involvement in localized performance practices that link him to a community and that in turn provide a shared, foundational identity for both the individual and the community’ (p. 2). To attain this objective, William Peterson uses three interlocking frames to highlight the meanings of a performance: (1) the way in which an individual experiences the performance inside his/her own body; (2) the communal dimensions of the event; and (3) the meaning of the performance in relation to the three concepts of bayan, as the place of origin, as nation, and as the ‘cultural imaginary of what it means to be Filipino’ (p. 6).

The study focuses mainly on church-related activities, which are widespread, well entrenched, and well attended in a country with a predominantly Roman Catholic population. The author first analyses three types of sinakulo (the Lenten passion play). He demonstrates how the traditional sinakulo in Mandaluyong City, staged by the members of the community for generations, and the new sinakulo, which is financed by government officials of Marinduque, both depict a ‘suffering Christ’ (p. 61) who is static and otherworldly, while the activist sinakulo, staged by a Manila theatre group and funded by community and local governments, presents a charismatic ‘Best Friend Christ’ (p. 61). Peterson contends that while their roles are dissimilar, all of the actors playing Christ undergo a deep personal experience when performing that links them to the Filipino Catholic communities who have come together to experience Christ's suffering. While the author acknowledges how exclusive desires of national officials have shaped these events, he nevertheless concludes that the new performances ‘provide the foundation for what it means to be an empathetic being, and with that, also what it means to be Filipino’ (p. 97).

In the second half of the book the focus moves to dancing in the Philippines, starting with the Bayanihan folkloric dance company. While the company has been criticized for divesting the historical dances of their original meanings, ironically its work has become the model for the native dances that ethnic groups themselves perform as an expression of their own culture. In the Santo Nino festival in Kalibo, Aklan, the author himself participates, dancing for hours to honour the Holy Child. The ‘sense of deep enjoyment’ that ensues from losing oneself in others makes him return repeatedly to the event (p. 131). In the street dancing of the Aliwan Festival in Manila, the urban-based cultural administrators manage the event less as a religious activity and more as part of the creative industries. In spite of this commercial and spectacle-oriented view, the participants are able to achieve a better understanding of their cultural identities through a sense of festive solidarity and find ‘individual and collective happiness’ (p. 179).

The study is notable for its methodology, which involves immersive and empathetic participant observation. Because the book successfully oscillates between doing and theorizing, the inclusion of the personal experiences of the author as a key element in the analysis does not lead to impressionism. Notable too is Peterson's ability to move beyond predictable answers towards what he understands as the deeper meanings of an experience. Thus, while most Filipinos involved in the study identified panata (a religious vow) as the reason for their involvement, the author astutely recognizes that a more significant factor in the continuing engagement with these performances is the pursuit of an intense enjoyment. Furthermore, Peterson explains how such enjoyment is constituted by different states of feeling – from the personal pleasure of dancing to the pain involved in playing and receiving Christ – and thereby further clarifies how Filipino personal identity is not a state of being but a flow of performative acts.

Yet even as I appreciate the insight that individual and collective enjoyment are the basis for building a community, I wonder whether the case studies do not ultimately serve to rationalize continued domination by the elite who are usually involved in funding or otherwise supporting these performances. While the study bravely bolsters the point of view of the common people, it does not seem to consider the crucial role of local officials who organize such events mainly for their own political and/or economic reasons. Perhaps the question to be answered, then, is not only how Filipinos find happiness by expressing themselves as individuals and as bayan, but how even these most ‘authentic’ expressions of happiness draw their ultimate meaning from the larger political and economic context, which goes beyond the religious. It seems important that another dimension – that of class – be considered in the equation of bayan with place, nation and cultural imaginary.